>I think the article focused on Calder Cup candidates, which would explain
>most of the omissions.  The fact that they can have an article that focuses
>only on Calder Cup candidates, not the many, many, U.S. collegians in the
>NHL is an indication of how far US college hockey has come.
 
The interesting thing about that article is that is its omissions that show
how the college ranks have improved in developing talent.
 
It neglects to mention snippets such as the fact that 2 of the top 5 goal
scorers are from the college ranks -- Tony Amonte (#1, 22 goals) and Keith
Tkachuk (#5, 17 goals). For that matter, are there any players with college
experience who are captains of their teams?
 
They do mention Chris Drury as one rookies finding success this year, but
they neglect mentioning his having won the Hobey. Compare this to football
where a player is called "Heisman winner [name]" for a good couple of years
after entering the pros.
 
The article mentions Tom Poti, but it doesn't remark on the fact that it is
Edmonton's great satisfaction with fellow BU product Mike Grier that eased
Poti's entry into the regular starting lineup.
 
And lest I be chastised for only talking BU -- no mention of rookie Marty
Reasoner? What about the rookie season that Paul Kariya had?
 
Perhaps the most interesting omission of all is that of the links of these
players to their college teams -- for years players from the huge schools
like BU, Wisconsin and Michigan (as well as other big-name schools like
Harvard), wound up in the NHL. Seems to me though it's only been in the
last 10 years that we've seen some of the smaller (in name and/or size)
schools in the country produce elite-caliber players; schools like Maine,
St Cloud, and North Dakota, among others (this is not to say they haven't
produced them before, just not as often or as prominently).
 
Just the same, nice to see credit being paid to the rookies out of college;
from what I've been told, the "college guys" still get a lot of crap from
everyone else.
 
 
greenie
 
 
ps: Not quite a strange coincidence to have so much great BU talent in the
NHL and a mediocre team back in Boston...
 
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